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How No. 22 Utah fended off Arizona State in the Pac-12 tournament

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How No. 22 Utah fended off Arizona State in the Pac-12 tournament


LAS VEGAS — Ines Vieira cashed in the biggest shot of the night in Las Vegas.

Her 50-foot buzzer-beating bank shot 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter of No. 22 Utah’s first-round matchup against Arizona State changed the tide in a game that looked like it might be ripe for an upset.

Instead, the No. 6 seed Utes were able to fend off the No. 11 seed Sun Devils 71-60 Wednesday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“First, I was surprised. I don’t know,” Vieira said of the shot. “I just throw the ball sometimes not thinking it’s gonna go in. But hopefully yeah, hopefully it goes in and then I was just happy for the team.”

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Utah turned that momentum-shifting shot into a 12-4 run that led to the Utes taking a game-high 14-point lead with 7:02 to play.

“Those are momentum shots. I’ve been on the other end of those,” Utah coach Lynne Roberts said. “We do a shooting drill where the first person to make half-court shot, I don’t think Ines made it all season. But those are big momentum plays and you know, got our fans back in it.”

From there, Utah did enough to overcome a spirited effort from Arizona State.

“We can walk out of that game with our heads up because we competed for 40 minutes,” Arizona State coach Natasha Adair said. “It was not the outcome that we wanted, obviously, but there were bright spots and there have been bright spots all season.”

Utah’s coach praised the effort and fight she saw from the Sun Devils.

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“I thought they came to compete and they played really hard. They didn’t make it easy on us for sure,” Roberts said.

On Wednesday night, ASU planned to make it tough on Alissa Pili.

“Obviously Pili is Pili. I mean she really had a presence inside. The plan was to trap her, the plan was to not let her turn, make her throw it back out,” Adair said. “In moments, the rotations were late but what I really loved was that we honed in to what we were supposed to do, and we made it a game.”

Vieira turned that emphasis on Pili into a near career-night, as her 18 points were just two short of her career high. She made 7 of 12 shots and led four Utah players in double-figures while adding five rebounds and three assists.

“I trust her and she’s definitely our engine that makes us go, so proud of her for that,” Roberts said of Vieira.

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In addition to the third-quarter buzzer-beater, Vieira also scored four points in a 14-2 run in the second quarter where Utah turned an early deficit into an eight-point lead, and the Utes never trailed again.

“I trust her and she’s definitely our engine that makes us go, so proud of her for that.”

—  Utah coach Lynne Roberts, on Ines Vieira

Turnovers were a sore spot for the Utes, as they finished with 17 and had seven in the first quarter — that helped ASU build a seven-point lead in the early going. Trayanna Crisp scored seven points in the first quarter as part of a 19-point effort.

Eventually, though, the Utah tenacity and toughness made its way to the top.

Pili scored a game-high 20 points, 16 of those in the second half.

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“We made a concerted effort to get her the dang ball in the second half,” Roberts said.

She also had 11 rebounds — Roberts said she “rebounded with authority” — leading the charge as Utah outrebounded the Sun Devils 39-26. That helped the Utes own an 11-8 advantage in second-chance points and 40-26 edge in points in the paint.

When teams are keying on Pili, like Arizona State was, she said she’s learned to focus on things like setting good screens, being a facilitator, rebounding and playing hard to continue making an impact, and it worked again Wednesday.

“You know doing the controllable things when you know I may not be scoring as much, I just trusted my teammates and trusted the process,” Pili said. “I wasn’t going to force anything and kind of take great shots and not force anything. And I think that I just let the game come to me.”

Pili’s presence opened lanes for guards like Vieira, Kennedy McQueen (11 points) and Maty Wilke (10) to cash in.

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“It really helps a lot, at least for me, like she sealed a lot and that’s how I got one so it doesn’t show on the stats, only if you’re watching the game,” Vieira said.

That sets the Utes up with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 3 seed UCLA. The Utes and Bruins split their regular-season matchups — Utah won in overtime in Salt Lake City, while UCLA beat the Utes by 30 in Los Angeles.

“I think UCLA is a complete team,” Roberts said. “… They’re well coached, they execute their stuff they’re playing at a really high level right now. So we’ll have a game plan ready, and we’ll be ready.”



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White scores 25 to help Utah women hand No. 8 TCU its 1st loss, 87-77 in overtime

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White scores 25 to help Utah women hand No. 8 TCU its 1st loss, 87-77 in overtime


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lani White scored 25 points to lead Utah past No. 8 TCU 87-77 in overtime Saturday night.

Reese Ross added 15 points and Maty Wilke had 12 for the Utes. Evelina Otto finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Utah (11-4, 2-1 Big 12) made 13 3-pointers and shot 56.5% from long distance.

Olivia Miles had 31 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to pace the Horned Frogs (14-1, 2-1). Marta Suarez added 23 points and 11 rebounds. TCU shot just 37% from the field, including 9 of 39 from 3-point range.

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White forced overtime by making a 3-pointer that tied it 67-all with 12 seconds left in regulation. Utah never trailed in OT and went up 76-69 with 2:47 left after White capped a 9-2 run with her fourth outside basket.

TCU used a 7-0 spurt to erase a four-point deficit in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Suarez and Donovyn Hunter put TCU up 66-64 with 49 seconds remaining.

Ross had a chance to tie it on two free throws with 33.3 seconds left, but missed both. Miles made one of two foul shots with 22 seconds to go before White tied it.

Utah took advantage of cold shooting by the Horned Frogs to pull ahead in the third quarter. Back-to-back baskets from Suarez were TCU’s only field goals over an eight-minute stretch. The Utes scored on three straight possessions, culminating in a layup from Wilke, to take a 52-48 lead.

Miles made back-to-back baskets to put the Horned Frogs back up 58-56. Utah used a 7-0 run, punctuated by a 3-pointer from Ross, to go ahead 63-58 with 4:32 left in regulation.

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Up next

TCU hosts Oklahoma State on Wednesday.

Utah plays at Kansas on Wednesday.

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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball.



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Judge files ruling allowing for appeal to Utah Supreme Court in redistricting case

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Judge files ruling allowing for appeal to Utah Supreme Court in redistricting case


The judge in Utah’s redistricting case filed a ruling making it possible for the Legislature to appeal to the Utah Supreme Court, but not without a strong rebuke of their process.

On Friday, Judge Dianna Gibson ruled partially in favor of the Legislature’s most recent request in the redistricting case, certifying its August 25th ruling as final in order to allow them to appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.

However, she strongly denied their request to enter a final judgment and end the case, saying, “This case is far from over.”

MORE | Utah Redistricting:

File – Utah Congressional Redistricting Maps (Image: KUTV)

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“Quite literally – this Court is between the proverbial rock and a hard spot. This entire case is not ‘final,’” Gibson wrote in the ruling. “But the Court agrees that the important legal issues decided by this Court and reflected in each of its rulings … should be reviewed by the Utah Supreme Court as quickly as possible.”

Gibson said it was the legislative defendant’s “duty to seek appellate review” regarding any of her interlocutory, or non-final orders, within 21 days of the rulings. She said they repeatedly claimed they would but never did.

Now, they are requesting she finalize the case, or at the very least one of her orders, to allow them to file an appeal.

Because Gibson does not want to delay appellate review, she agreed to certify the August 25, 2025 Ruling and Order as final.

“Every Utah voter, every Utah congressional candidate and arguably every Utah citizen is impacted by this case. Issuing a final ruling – on even a portion of this case – ultimately serves the public’s interest and will lead to a faster resolution of the entire case,” she wrote.

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The redistricting case dates back to 2018, when voters passed a ballot initiative to create a commission to redraw the congressional district boundaries.

State legislators repealed the ballot initiative in 2020, and attempted to draw their own congressional map the following year.

This prompted a lawsuit, which has led to several rulings, including the one on August 25th, which declared that the Utah Legislature violated voters’ rights by approving congressional boundaries that split Salt Lake County.

“Until there is a final decision on these legal issues from our Supreme Court, there will be a cloud on Utah’s congressional elections and an open question regarding the power of the Legislature and the power of the people,” Gibson wrote in her most recent ruling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Utah man missing for 3 years presumed dead. What happened? – East Idaho News

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Utah man missing for 3 years presumed dead. What happened? – East Idaho News


SOUTH SALT LAKE (KSL) — Investigators believe a South Salt Lake man who disappeared in 2022 is likely dead, but they’re still trying to figure out what happened to him more than three years later.

“To my knowledge we don’t have one working theory as to whether it’s a homicide or a suicide or if he just completely went off the grid, essentially,” officer Shaun Ward said Monday.

But according to a recent search warrant affidavit filed in 3rd District Court, “There has been no financial or digital footprint indicating that (Cornelis ‘Casey’ Frederik Bokslag) is still alive. It is presumed he is deceased.”

Ward says the search warrant, filed in late November, is to look at Bokslag’s Google accounts, such as his email history, internet search history and location data. Investigators are hoping those records “might provide additional information about where Bokslag had been in the days and hours leading up to his disappearance as well as any correspondence, contacts, locations and a slew of other sources of information that could lead Investigators to the location of Bokslag’s body, which will allow us to determine if his disappearance was a result of suicide or foul play,” the warrant states.

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As of Monday, the request for that information from Google was still pending.

Ward, 30, was last seen on June 6, 2022. Police have recovered surveillance video of Bokslag leaving his apartment complex that day in his car by himself. He then went to an ATM in South Salt Lake and withdrew $100. Bokslag, a four-year Marine veteran who had worked for a watershed company since 2016, did not go to work that day, which family members, his employer and police said was highly unusual.

“Investigators eventually learned that Bokslag had taken the day off work and told friends and family that he was traveling to Evanston, Wyoming, to participate in the gay pride parade festivities,” according to the recently unsealed search warrant.

Hours after Bokslag was reported missing on June 8, 2022, his 2012 Suzuki SX4 was found by a passerby in Summit County, near the Castle Rock exit off I-80, about 18 miles west of the Wyoming border.

“It was discovered that the vehicle’s license plates were removed from the car. Meticulously, the screws were put back into the license plate frame, and the vehicle was essentially clean in nature,” police said at the time.

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The warrant further states that “there was a noticeable absence of fingerprints inside the vehicle. This was determined to be consistent with the interior having been wiped clean.

“Later, DNA swabs were taken and submitted for testing. They revealed two genetic profiles. One was matched to Bokslag by exemplar samples provided by the family. A second profile was identified. The profile was checked through the Combined DNA Index System, and no positive identification was made,” the warrant states.

Ward said Monday that investigators have done extensive searches around where Bokslag’s car was found in 2022, both on the ground and by drone. His residence was also searched, and a few items of potential evidence, such as Bokslag’s laptop, were seized.

A co-worker called Bokslag several times one night before he disappeared, according to cellphone records collected by investigators. Several witnesses told police that the co-worker and Bokslag “were up for the same promotion, but Bokslag was eventually selected for it, causing resentment. Those cellphone records also showed Bokslag’s phone being turned off at some point on June 6,” according to the warrant.

“A records check revealed that shortly after receiving numerous calls in one night from the hostile co-worker, and prior to being reported missing, Bokslag purchased a handgun in Salt Lake County along with two boxes of ammunition,” the warrant says.

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Ward did not have any additional information Monday about the co-worker, including whether police had questioned him or if he had been ruled out as a possible suspect.

A $50,000 reward is still being offered for information that leads to Bokslag being found. According to a web page set up by his family, Bokslag is 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighs about 140 pounds, has blond hair and gray eyes. He also had a goatee at the time of his disappearance. A missing persons poster is hanging in the lobby of the South Salt Lake Police Department with Bokslag’s information.

Anyone who has information on what may have happened to Bokslag or anyone who may have seen him is asked to call police at 801-840-4000. Ward says all tips will be investigated.

“Really, anything at this point. If they think that they saw him or have seen him recently, or if they have any information into his personal life that our investigators may not know … any information is welcome,” he said. “We want to bring closure to the family. The family still wants answers.”

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